JavaScript functions can normally only be called from a native addon's main
thread. If an addon creates additional threads, then node-addon-api functions
that require a Napi::Env, Napi::Value, or Napi::Reference must not be
called from those threads.
When an addon has additional threads and JavaScript functions need to be invoked based on the processing completed by those threads, those threads must communicate with the addon's main thread so that the main thread can invoke the JavaScript function on their behalf. The thread-safe function APIs provide an easy way to do this.
These APIs provide the type Napi::ThreadSafeFunction as well as APIs to
create, destroy, and call objects of this type.
Napi::ThreadSafeFunction::New() creates a persistent reference that holds a
JavaScript function which can be called from multiple threads. The calls happen
asynchronously. This means that values with which the JavaScript callback is to
be called will be placed in a queue, and, for each value in the queue, a call
will eventually be made to the JavaScript function.
Napi::ThreadSafeFunction objects are destroyed when every thread which uses
the object has called Release() or has received a return status of
napi_closing in response to a call to BlockingCall() or NonBlockingCall().
The queue is emptied before the Napi::ThreadSafeFunction is destroyed. It is
important that Release() be the last API call made in conjunction with a given
Napi::ThreadSafeFunction, because after the call completes, there is no
guarantee that the Napi::ThreadSafeFunction is still allocated. For the same
reason it is also important that no more use be made of a thread-safe function
after receiving a return value of napi_closing in response to a call to
BlockingCall() or NonBlockingCall(). Data associated with the
Napi::ThreadSafeFunction can be freed in its Finalizer callback which was
passed to ThreadSafeFunction::New().
Once the number of threads making use of a Napi::ThreadSafeFunction reaches
zero, no further threads can start making use of it by calling Acquire(). In
fact, all subsequent API calls associated with it, except Release(), will
return an error value of napi_closing.
Creates a new empty instance of Napi::ThreadSafeFunction.
cpp
Napi::Function::ThreadSafeFunction();
Creates a new instance of the Napi::ThreadSafeFunction object.
cpp
Napi::ThreadSafeFunction::ThreadSafeFunction(napi_threadsafe_function tsfn);
tsfn: The napi_threadsafe_function which is a handle for an existing
thread-safe function.Returns a non-empty Napi::ThreadSafeFunction instance.
Creates a new instance of the Napi::ThreadSafeFunction object. The New
function has several overloads for the various optional parameters: skip the
optional parameter for that specific overload.
cpp
New(napi_env env,
const Function& callback,
const Object& resource,
ResourceString resourceName,
size_t maxQueueSize,
size_t initialThreadCount,
ContextType* context,
Finalizer finalizeCallback,
FinalizerDataType* data);
env: The napi_env environment in which to construct the
Napi::ThreadSafeFunction object.callback: The Function to call from another thread.[optional] resource: An object associated with the async work that will be
passed to possible async_hooks init hooks.resourceName: A JavaScript string to provide an identifier for the kind of
resource that is being provided for diagnostic information exposed by the
async_hooks API.maxQueueSize: Maximum size of the queue. 0 for no limit.initialThreadCount: The initial number of threads, including the main
thread, which will be making use of this function.[optional] context: Data to attach to the resulting ThreadSafeFunction.[optional] finalizeCallback: Function to call when the ThreadSafeFunction
is being destroyed. This callback will be invoked on the main thread when the
thread-safe function is about to be destroyed. It receives the context and the
finalize data given during construction (if given), and provides an
opportunity for cleaning up after the threads e.g. by calling
uv_thread_join(). It is important that, aside from the main loop thread,
there be no threads left using the thread-safe function after the finalize
callback completes. Must implement void operator()(Env env, DataType* data,
Context* hint), skipping data or hint if they are not provided.
Can be retreived via GetContext().[optional] data: Data to be passed to finalizeCallback.Returns a non-empty Napi::ThreadSafeFunction instance.
Add a thread to this thread-safe function object, indicating that a new thread will start making use of the thread-safe function.
cpp
napi_status Napi::ThreadSafeFunction::Acquire()
Returns one of:
- napi_ok: The thread has successfully acquired the thread-safe function
for its use.
- napi_closing: The thread-safe function has been marked as closing via a
previous call to Abort().
Indicate that an existing thread will stop making use of the thread-safe function. A thread should call this API when it stops making use of this thread-safe function. Using any thread-safe APIs after having called this API has undefined results in the current thread, as it may have been destroyed.
cpp
napi_status Napi::ThreadSafeFunction::Release()
Returns one of:
- napi_ok: The thread-safe function has been successfully released.
- napi_invalid_arg: The thread-safe function's thread-count is zero.
- napi_generic_failure: A generic error occurred when attemping to release
the thread-safe function.
"Abort" the thread-safe function. This will cause all subsequent APIs associated
with the thread-safe function except Release() to return napi_closing even
before its reference count reaches zero. In particular, BlockingCall and
NonBlockingCall() will return napi_closing, thus informing the threads that
it is no longer possible to make asynchronous calls to the thread-safe function.
This can be used as a criterion for terminating the thread. Upon receiving a
return value of napi_closing from a thread-safe function call a thread must
make no further use of the thread-safe function because it is no longer
guaranteed to be allocated.
cpp
napi_status Napi::ThreadSafeFunction::Abort()
Returns one of:
- napi_ok: The thread-safe function has been successfully aborted.
- napi_invalid_arg: The thread-safe function's thread-count is zero.
- napi_generic_failure: A generic error occurred when attemping to abort
the thread-safe function.
Calls the Javascript function in either a blocking or non-blocking fashion.
- BlockingCall(): the API blocks until space becomes available in the queue.
Will never block if the thread-safe function was created with a maximum queue
size of 0.
- NonBlockingCall(): will return napi_queue_full if the queue was full,
preventing data from being successfully added to the queue.
There are several overloaded implementations of BlockingCall() and
NonBlockingCall() for use with optional parameters: skip the optional
parameter for that specific overload.
```cpp napi_status Napi::ThreadSafeFunction::BlockingCall(DataType* data, Callback callback) const
napi_status Napi::ThreadSafeFunction::NonBlockingCall(DataType* data, Callback callback) const ```
[optional] data: Data to pass to callback.[optional] callback: C++ function that is invoked on the main thread. The
callback receives the ThreadSafeFunction's JavaScript callback function to
call as an Napi::Function in its parameters and the DataType* data pointer
(if provided). Must implement void operator()(Napi::Env env, Function
jsCallback, DataType* data), skipping data if not provided. It is not
necessary to call into JavaScript via MakeCallback() because N-API runs
callback in a context appropriate for callbacks.Returns one of:
- napi_ok: The call was successfully added to the queue.
- napi_queue_full: The queue was full when trying to call in a non-blocking
method.
- napi_closing: The thread-safe function is aborted and cannot accept more
calls.
- napi_invalid_arg: The thread-safe function is closed.
- napi_generic_failure: A generic error occurred when attemping to add to the
queue.
```cpp
using namespace Napi;
std::thread nativeThread; ThreadSafeFunction tsfn;
Value Start( const CallbackInfo& info ) { Napi::Env env = info.Env();
if ( info.Length() < 2 ) { throw TypeError::New( env, "Expected two arguments" ); } else if ( !info[0].IsFunction() ) { throw TypeError::New( env, "Expected first arg to be function" ); } else if ( !info[1].IsNumber() ) { throw TypeError::New( env, "Expected second arg to be number" ); }
int count = info[1].As
// Create a ThreadSafeFunction
tsfn = ThreadSafeFunction::New(
env,
info[0].As
// Create a native thread
nativeThread = std::thread( [count] {
auto callback = {
// Transform native data into JS data, passing it to the provided
// jsCallback -- the TSFN's JavaScript function.
jsCallback.Call( {Number::New( env, *value )} );
// We're finished with the data.
delete value;
};
for ( int i = 0; i < count; i++ )
{
// Create new data
int* value = new int( clock() );
// Perform a blocking call
napi_status status = tsfn.BlockingCall( value, callback );
if ( status != napi_ok )
{
// Handle error
break;
}
std::this_thread::sleep_for( std::chrono::seconds( 1 ) );
}
// Release the thread-safe function
tsfn.Release();
} );
return Boolean::New(env, true); }
Napi::Object Init( Napi::Env env, Object exports ) { exports.Set( "start", Function::New( env, Start ) ); return exports; }
NODE_API_MODULE( clock, Init ) ```
The above code can be used from JavaScript as follows:
```js const { start } = require('bindings')('clock');
start(function () { console.log("JavaScript callback called with arguments", Array.from(arguments)); }, 5); ```
When executed, the output will show the value of clock() five times at one
second intervals:
JavaScript callback called with arguments [ 84745 ]
JavaScript callback called with arguments [ 103211 ]
JavaScript callback called with arguments [ 104516 ]
JavaScript callback called with arguments [ 105104 ]
JavaScript callback called with arguments [ 105691 ]